Let’s talk about supply storage for your special needs child…
Are you overwhelmed with the need for supply storage for your special needs child? We totally were! One of the things I wasn’t really prepared for when Colton came home from the hospital was the amount of supplies that came with him! Oh, my word, there was a lot. No one ever mentioned needing supply storage for your special needs child! I’m talking an overflowing kitchen table full of stuff that the nurses at the hospital had given us and the majority of our supplies hadn’t even been delivered yet. Over time we have figured out that some of the supplies that we came home with we no longer needed. We have also changed ventilators and feedings since we’ve come home as well, so that helps with some of the supplies.
Colton came home at the age of a month and a half. Yes, this is early but we will discuss that another time. When he came home he had a tracheostomy, a ventilator, and a g-tube. Each one of these things has specific supplies that come with it. I’m not going to make a list of all the crap, but rather show you how we store everything.
Initially, Colton’s room was going to be upstairs. When we came home we found out the logistics of carrying him and all of his stuff up and down the stairs every morning and night were just not going to work. So, our den became Colton’s room on the first floor. There was just one problem with this plan. There is no closet in our den! So where on earth we we going to put all of this stuff? Well, here comes our obsessive need for organization!
How we found our organization system!
We went to a couple of different stores and looked at some of the storage options that they have, including Lowe’s, The Container Store, and Ikea. We ended up with a system that can be customized from Target. These are similar to the ones we have. Stack these boxes in so many different ways for what you need.
We then took it another step further and used a label machine to make labels for where the specific item goes. This helps keep us organized and it keeps our nurses organized.
This system also helps us when we go to reorder our supplies every month. We have a spreadsheet that we order from, but I’ll talk about that in another post! We also have a closet upstairs that we keep overflow supplies in like diapers and wipes. Every once in a while we rearrange the supplies to fit new supplies that we need or get rid of supplies we don’t need.
Hopefully these tips help with supply storage for your special needs child!
You can find more about us and Colton here!
